A process used to expedite the passage of partisan budget-related legislation.
The Mission
To advance legislation, the Senate typically requires 60 votes to proceed, thanks to the filibuster. But there is a way to pass budget-specific legislation with a simple majority using a process called budget reconciliation.
Congress created reconciliation with the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 in order to give itself greater procedural flexibility. Since then, reconciliation has been successfully used 24 times. The process has also been amended through the years, most famously to include the Byrd Rule, which requires all provisions in a budget reconciliation measure to be germane to the budget process and prohibits “extraneous” amendments.
Atonement
Reconciliation begins when the House and Senate Budget Committees propose a budget resolution that includes specific reconciliation directives. These directives lay out which other committees should report legislation, the associated timeline, and guidelines for how much the committees must spend or cut. Individual committees then develop tax and spending measures under their respective jurisdictions in line with the directives from the budget resolution, which are eventually combined into a single budget reconciliation bill. Budget reconciliation featured prominently in the passage, and the attempted repeals, of the Affordable Care Act.
Though budget reconciliation streamlines a bill’s passage and limits Senate debate to 20 hours, senators can offer unlimited amendments during consideration. This often leads to a marathon session known as a vote-a-rama, where senators propose amendments that force their colleagues on the other side of the aisle to go on the record on difficult policy issues. We saw this in July 2025, when the Senate voted for more than 24 hours straight on mostly Democrat-led amendments to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill ultimately passed 51-50, with Vice President Vance casting the tie-breaking vote in favor of the measure and with three Republicans joining Democrats in opposition.
Les Misérables
Currently, congressional Republicans are aiming to pass two more reconciliation packages ahead of this year’s midterm elections. First, they are moving fast to pass a narrow reconciliation bill to forward fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) through the remainder of President Trump’s second term. This may include security funding to support Trump’s ballroom and other Secret Service measures, though some Republicans have bristled at this component in an election year when affordability is top of mind for voters.
Then, Republicans may take up a second package that could include a defense supplemental to support the Iran War, tariff aid for farmers, and additional tax policy changes. Both planned reconciliation bills will face an uphill battle amidst an intensely divided House Republican Conference that is growingly increasingly concerned about a blue wave this November.
About Wonkology
What is a policy rider? How long is a legislative day? Political jargon can be headache-inducing. But your ability to understand how Washington works could significantly impact your business. Wonkology is an update from the Thompson Coburn Lobbying & Policy group. In each edition, we will decode Washington lingo by giving you a straightforward definition of a political term that is in the news.
